Pohang City Seafood Quality Control Center Designated as the First Local Government 'Seafood Safety Inspection Agency'

The Seafood Quality Control Center operated by Pohang City was designated on the 7th as the first local government seafood safety inspection agency.

Pohang City Seafood Quality Control Center conducting radioactive contamination tests on seafood.

The seafood safety inspection agency is an inspection institution designated and managed by the National Fisheries Products Quality Management Service to conduct safety investigations and test analyses of seafood. Pohang City's Seafood Quality Control Center is the first institution designated by a local government.

Previously, the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives, Korea SGS, and E-Mart were designated as seafood safety inspection agencies, and Pohang City's Seafood Quality Control Center was designated as the "5th seafood safety inspection agency."

Pohang City established the Seafood Quality Control Center in January last year in preparation for the discharge of radioactive contaminated water from Japan. It was the first basic local government (city, county, district) to introduce radiation inspection equipment (high-purity germanium gamma nuclide analyzer) and formed a radiation monitoring team to strengthen the safety management of local seafood.

Following the discharge of radioactive contaminated water, the center conducts 40 radiation tests per month on seafood and seafood processed products produced and distributed in the region, monitors coastal seawater nearby, and discloses the results on the city’s website.

In addition, the Seafood Quality Control Center has been operating as the first local government designated by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety as a self-quality entrusted inspection agency for seafood to ensure the safety of local seafood and seafood products.

As an accredited inspection agency, the center has been supporting customized hygiene inspections to establish a quality management system for small-scale seafood food and processing industry workers in the region. With the recent designation as a safety inspection agency, it can now also support the management of seafood and seafood raw materials produced and caught at fish farms and auction markets.

The city expects that with this designation, the scope of work supported by the center will expand, allowing it to become a major institution on the East Coast that integrates the dualized seafood safety management system of production and distribution.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok said, “We will strive to make Pohang a hub that guarantees the safety of East Coast seafood,” and added, “In response to the discharge of radioactive contaminated water, we will continue transparent and systematic radiation inspections to alleviate consumer concerns about seafood and provide safe food that citizens can trust and consume.”

The Seafood Quality Control Center reported that since the discharge of radioactive contaminated water from Fukushima, it has conducted 380 radiation tests on local seafood and seafood processed products, but no non-compliance cases have been found.